# X: A Runaway explained — The Middle Five

> Chapter companion for The Middle Five by Francis La Flesche.

## What happens

During the summer buffalo hunt, the narrator and his friends Lester and Warren run away from the mission school to join the hunt. They hide from Brush, who is on horseback, and find refuge with a family in the Wood-eaters' village, spending the night outdoors on a drying platform.

## Themes in this chapter

### Resistance and Rebellion

The boys' decision to run away from the mission school to join the buffalo hunt is a direct act of rebellion against the school's authority and assimilationist goals.

### Childhood and Play

The adventure of running away, hiding from Brush, and sleeping outdoors captures the spirit of childhood exploration and play.

### Tradition vs. Modernity

The conflict between the traditional buffalo hunt and the mission school's education highlights the tension between indigenous customs and modern assimilation.

## Character check-ins

### Me

The narrator, who reluctantly returns to school before deciding to run away with Lester and Warren to join the buffalo hunt.

### Brush

Remains at school; borrows a spyglass to watch the departing tribe and later nearly discovers the runaways while reading on horseback.

### Lester

Initiates the plan to run away, leading the group through ravines and to the Wood-eaters' village.

### Edwin M. Stanton

Mentioned as not returning to school because his father wanted him to join the buffalo hunt.

### Frank La Flesche

Referred to as Warren; one of the runaways who expresses a wish to go on the hunt.

## Key lines

> Vacation had come, and the Indians were about to start on their annual summer buffalo hunt.

The summer break had arrived, and the Omaha tribe was preparing for their yearly buffalo hunt.

_Sets the context for the chapter's central event._

> We four paced the long front porch, arm in arm, for a while, and then went and sat down in the shade of a tree.

The four boys walked together on the porch and then rested under a tree.

_Shows the camaraderie among the boys before the runaway plan._

> The ghosts have entered the village, said Lester, in our own language, and in a melancholy tone; they always do that as soon as the living leave their houses!

Lester remarked in Omaha that the ghosts had taken over the village, as they always do when people depart.

_Reflects the boys' sense of desolation and supernatural beliefs._

> Why do parents when they go away leave their children at the House of Teaching, I wonder?

The mother questioned why parents leave their children at the mission school when they go on the hunt.

_Expresses a critique of the school's separation of children from their families._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_middle_five_se/chapters/x-a-runaway
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_middle_five_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_middle_five_se/chapters